Michael Cera Palin, Alien Weaponry, Imperial Triumphant and More: New Noizze – The 22 Must-Listen Tracks of the Week

You know the deal, here's the best singles released this week.

Michael Cera Palin – Wisteria

It’s rare that a band become as influential as Atlanta based emo trio Michael Cera Palin without ever having released a full length album. Their latest single ‘Wisteria’ comes alongside an announcement of their long-awaited debut album, titled We Could Be Brave after a decade together. ‘Wisteria’ takes the band’s long-established mix of delicate indie and dynamic punk rock and polishes it up for a familiar yet refined sound full of chunky basslines and subtly elaborate guitar flourishes. On ‘Wisteria’ Michael Cera Palin prove that, despite some time away, they’re still full of the same youthful energy that made their early EPs cult classics. – Tom Bruce

Alien Weaponry – Mau Moko

Championing their Māori roots, New Zealand based thrash metal trio Alien Weaponry have risen from humble beginnings to become one of the most important heavy bands still performing, their latest single ‘Mau Moko’ continues their tradition of crushing metal combined with booming vocals in their native tongue of te reo Māori. With a blisteringly fast pace driven by drummer Henry De Jong’s ferocious beats and frontman Lewis De Jong’s galloping guitar riffs, ‘Mau Moko’ keeps Alien Weaponry’s upward momentum going in anticipation of their upcoming third album Te Rā. ‘Mau Moko’ once again brings Alien Weaponry’s rich culture to the forefront of their sound, showing off their Māori heritage through the universal language of huge thrash metal riffs. – Tom Bruce

Imperial Triumphant – Lexington Delirium (feat. Tomas Haake)

New York’s esoteric, avant-garde abyssal gods Imperial Triumphant return with another new mind-melting track alongside the reveal of their new album Goldstar. Featuring unsettling spoken word vocals from legendary Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake, it’s everything you’ve come to expect from the unexpected trio. Easing in with a dreamy guitar melody that slowly turns sour with dissonance; sickening churns and rhythmic shifts, chaotic melodies, phenomenal musicianship and boundary pushing jazz infused blackened death metal. The accompanying video is a visual treat, seeing the band take to upper levels  of the art-deco icon in the form of Chrysler Building in New York City (something not often allowed for most folk, let alone experimental metal bands). The historical significance of the location paired with the dizzying camera shifts and editing perfectly reflect the chaos and sense of unease the band sew in their music. Goldstar is shaping up to be another spectacular trip through a world inspired by American opulence from another time when it drops this March. – Harry Shiels

Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance

Part of a select group of bands who helped pioneer the original deathcore boom and are still not only making music, but have looked to evolve and expand their sound over their career, Whitechapel are back and they sound pissed. Nearly twenty years in and fresh off two critically acclaimed albums that saw them delve into softer territories, it appears that the upcoming album Hymns In Dissonance will take things to darker and much heavier territories. Harking back to the sound from Our Endless War, the title track is a ferocious blast of insidious deathcore, as always lead by the demonic belches of Phil Bozeman and Ben Savage’s frantic yet memorable guitar work. Amidst the brutality there will lie a story of a cultist gathering members for a cult and tracks regarding the seven deadly sins, which all sounds like perfect material for an absolute behemoth of an album. – Chris Earl

tunic – Eyes Crossed Out

tunic don’t mess about. The first single off the upcoming record, ‘Eyes Crossed Out’ is a dissonant, post-punk nightmare through the streets of Winnipeg. tunic have a knack of always sounding artfully out of tune, the opening to the new track is no different before it drops into a section driven by one of the most disgustingly fuzzed out bass sounds we’ve ever heard. It sounds like the speak has been blown out of whatever device is being used to play the track, whilst David Schellenberg pounds out the lyrics like a distant Canadian cousin of Unifrom. The track rounds out with the fast strumming of a chord that doesn’t really sound like a chord as the song’s title is shouted over and over again creating a sense of cacophonic lunacy. We’ll be covering the new record, hopefully the rest of it is this madness inducingly good. – Rob Bown

Slung – Laughter

Slung do a few things really well with their latest single ‘Laughter’. One of them is riffs; ‘Laughter’ is riddled with them, they’ll worm their way in and stay stuck in that brain matter for days at a time. The other is memorable vocals, ranging from gentle warming highs, to shouted punk drenched anger and screams of a metal band (they do cite Mastodon as an influence). Sometimes vocalist Katie Oldham sounds harsh and sharp like fellow Brightonian electro punks CLT DRP, other times she’d be at home in a smokey late bar signing over a piano. Either way the guitar section and drums juxtapose themselves against this audio barrage by supplying endless interesting riffs, and a slowed down section of proggy drudgery to round out the track, hopefully they never stop the laughter, and never stop putting up a fight. – Rob Bown

Coheed and Cambria – Someone Who Can

Arguably the most accessible thing Coheed and Cambria has ever released, ‘Someone Who Can’ see’s everyones favourite prog-emo band reflecting on the past whilst simultaneously looking forwards to what may be their most pivotal record of their career. The latest track to be taken from their new record The Father of Make Believe, ‘Someone Who Can’ stands as a sunny callback to the carefree halcyon days of youth that mares thoughts of the band’s 2002 debut LP with the skill and achievements they have built in the 23 years since that record. It’s impossible not be lifted by the upbeat pop sensibilities of this song, and as vocalist Claudio Sanchez states, the meaning of ‘Someone Who Can’ comes from embracing the unknown and uncertainty that carry on from youth. “When you’re growing up, you’re perpetually trying to understand the world that’s changing around you. Over time, it’s comforting to reach the conclusion that you’ll never truly have things figured out.” – Dan Hillier

Wren – Scorched Hinds

Fittingly releasing just days prior to a staunch anti-environmentalist becoming the most powerful man on this dying planet, ‘Scorched Hinds’ is a funeral march to our dying planet and soon our collective demise that will inevitably come once we burn this home of a planet. A slow-burning flow of sludge that’s caked in the ever-putrid folly of man, here, Wren perfectly articulate and mirror what will soon be our mother earth’s gurgling death rattle should we not soon change our ways. “Scorched hinds is about the human race’s false sense of assumed dominion over the natural world and how we must strive to realign our shared consciousness with our environment and all beings that inhabit it”, state the band on the track. “The new record is a crystallisation of the conceptual voice-giving to natural collapse, humanity’s decline and the shadowed spectre that has imbued Wren since the beginning.” Black Rain Falls, the band’s upcoming record, is released February 21st via Church Road Records. – Dan Hillier

BRAT – Barracuda (Feat. Goatwhore) (Heart cover)

‘Barracuda’ is one of those songs where it’s a certified toe tapper. Enough rock to put you to sleep but with enough power to fuel you for the next day. Enter BRAT. BRAT have been turning heads since their inception, with frontwoman Liz Selfish making onlooker’s jaws drop as soon as she kicks into gear. Their take on ‘Barracuda’ is as to be expected. They do match the speed of the original, which in turn makes it sound harsher as the fuzzy guitar work of Brenner Moate makes Ian Hennessey’ bass sound light. They rip through the classic while retaining their true sound with Selfish’s vocals hitting you like a brick wall. We even get an appearance from Goatwhore guitarist Sammy Duet as he makes his guitar squeal in a short but memorable solo. If you think this sounds weird, watch the video alongside it. – Liam True

Those Damn Crows – No Surrender

Welsh five piece Those Damn Crows have seen a surge in popularity since 2023’s Inhale/Exhale and it’s not hard to see why with their songwriting and shows getting better and more intricate. ‘No Surrender’ kicks off with a crunchy and catchy guitar riff with drummer Ronnie Huxford hammering slow and steady as the powerful vocals of Shane Greenhall and co lull you in, and as soon as you get comfy, they spring into their ways and blast you with their signature style of balls to the wall hard rock. While the songs could use a guitar solo, Those Damn Crows hit hard and fast with their rhythmic anthems yet again. – Liam True

Stoned Jesus – Buried Alive By Love (HIM cover)

Taking on an iconic song to cover is never an easy task but when the singer of said track has one of the most recognisable, sultry voices ever to grace this world, then the task must seem monolithic. However, Stoned Jesus clearly believe in themselves, taking on ‘Buried Alive By Love’ by the legendary HIM. The Ukrainian stoners may be best known for fuzzy meanders through riff-soaked swamps, but their slightly tougher, more bare bones interpretation of the Finnish love metallers’ classic has a lot of charm. Igor Sydorenko doesn’t have the range or the vampiric swagger of Ville Valo, but what he does have is a pained, earnest vocal take of the doomed love song. The bands guitar tones add a lovely edge to things and it instantly becomes a song sung in a smokey, intimate bar rather than one sung in a candlelit castle. An oddly enchanting cover well worth your time. – Chris Earl

To Obey A Tyrant – Obsidian Sol

Kicking off their latest single with an epic blast of symphonic majesty, before diving into actual blast beats, South Coast eardrum crushers To Obey A Tyrant didn’t come to play on ‘Obsidian Sol’. Vocals so raw they’d give Gordon Ramsay a heart attack are backed up by insane drums and nefarious riffs. It’s not all hammer and chisel when it comes to the instruments though – the band breaks out some finer tools to carve the middle of the track out nicely. Of course, no TOAT song is complete without a disgusting breakdown, and this one certainly qualifies – several times over. – Jude Bennett

Maud The Moth – Despeñaperros

Solo project of Spanish-born and Scotland-based Amaya Lopez-Carromero – also involved in healthyliving and Ashenspire – experimental/post-rock/ethereal wave artist Maud The Moth has unveiled the second single from forthcoming album The Distaff. The near 10 minute long composition ‘Despeñaperros’ is said to be “one of the cornerstones of The Distaff’s universe”. Being a real physical location, the Despañaperros Pass is a natural reserve with “dramatic geology and very violent historical background”, with its name translating to “where the dogs are thrown off the cliff”. Haunting, interwoven piano melodies lay a bed for ethereal and breathtaking multi-layered vocal performances, the instrumental swells as the song continues on; adding strings, drums, bass and guitars to the mix for emotive and powerful passages of disquiet and heartbreak in equal measure. Going in multiple unexpected directions across the breathtaking orchestration, the short film produced alongside the piece adds to the dramatic beauty of the track and adds further layers of mystery to what The Distaff may hold.- Harry Shiels

Impurity – Ancient Remains

2 minutes of bludgeoning HM2 riddled metal that’s over before there’s even chance to register it’s begun. Impurity‘s latest track ‘Ancient Remains’ comes through like an absolute freight train, right off the bat the drums both heavy and fast kick in before being followed up by that immediately recognisable nasty guitar tone, coupled with the vocals of someone being possessed by a demon this is rip roarer of a track and lays down the intention for Impurity’s upcoming release. If this one is anything to go by you might want to wear your brown pants, because it’s unrelenting, angry as fuck and downright disgusting. – Rob Bown

Psycho-Frame – Feed

Few bands out there can match the sheer grinding deathcore insanity of Psycho-Frame. Over two EPs they established themselves as one of the most exciting and uncompromisingly brutal acts around and this garnered attention. Fresh off signing to SharpTone Records, the band have dropped two new songs under the single name ‘FEED’ to celebrate and if you thought that they were stupidly heavy before, you’re in for a shock. Somehow sounding more intense and white knuckle than before, ‘NO REVIVES’ assaults your eardrums with 1000mph chaos with one of the most gloriously dumb snare sounds in recent memory, akin to firing a dodgeball from a cannon into a sheet of metal. ‘BREATHING NAPALM’ is an incredibly apt name for the second track because that’s exactly what it sounds like. At times an inhuman cacophony of growls, ear-bleedingly acerbic guitars and drums that sound like marbles being machine gunned off a church bell, it isn’t for the faint of heart and many will shy away from the band’s music, but they’ll be missing out on some of the purest forms of sonic chaos today. – Chris Earl

Enterprise Earth – I. The Descent

Barely a year on from the release of Death:  An Anthology, Enterprise Earth are back to scorch eardrums with their brand of progressive leaning deathcore. The first part of their upcoming EP Descent Into Madness, the first track to be released is ‘I. The Descent’. A lot more direct than most of the tracks on last year’s album, it’s a harsh, pointed slab of pummelling deathcore that features some wonderfully venomous lyrics, including the delightful “Kerosene is in your mouth, you know the only way is to burn it out”. The upcoming EP clearly shows the band is on a creative hot streak right now, which is great news especially for fans who will likely get to see this track and more on their upcoming UK tour. – Chris Earl

Conquer Divide – Bad Dreams feat. Of Virtue

American metalcore outfit Conquer Divide‘s first new music since last year’s deluxe edition of Slow Burn, ‘Bad Dreams’ drops ahead of a long touring stint supporting New Year’s Day followed by another support slot for Ankor. More melody driven, it’s the first taste of the band’s new era and is more melody-driven than ever, though still carries their own blend of metalcore and hard rock with its driving drums and crunchy riffs. Featuring Of Virtue, who lend both their voices with harmonised melodies and visceral screams in a caustic breakdown. Lyrically introspective, guitarist Izzy Johnson explains that the song “touches on the feeling of wanting nothing more than to succeed but being sabotaged by your own thoughts. Analysis paralysis is real and creates cycles that sometimes feel unbreakable, something that we have all individually experienced.” – Will Marshall

Anxious – Some Girl

The third single to be taken from the group’s forthcoming record Bambi – released February 21^st via Run For Cover Records – ‘Some Girl’ quintessentially encapsulates the feeling and message of Bambi as a record. Whereas Anxious’ last record Little Green House was a product of navigating post-adolescent angst, this new chapter see’s the Connecticut band embracing adulthood and leaving behind the breakups, burnouts and frustration of youth. ‘Some Girls’, with it’s panoramic widescreen emo sound, resonates this beautifully. Radiating that classic sound reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World, Third Eye Blind and even The Beach Boys, this is a sun-lit track that looks towards the future with optimism whilst embracing the natural anxiety that comes with change – Dan Hillier

you, infinite – Shine Eternal

Proper lovely stuff, this. The second cut to be taken from the duo’s forthcoming self-titled debut LP that’s released February 28th via Pelagic, ‘Shine Eternal’, like it’s name suggests, sounds absolutely glorious. Such a thing is expected given who you, infinite are however. The second single released from the new project of original This Will Destroy You members Jeremy Galindo and Raymond Brown, this is just one of those tracks where one can feel proper heritage in the music. It’s also one of those tracks that can only be made by people who have essentially devoted their entire lives to the respective genre. Much akin to the project’s previous single, whilst this doesn’t essentially reinvent the post-rock wheel, it pretty much masters it. Radiant, glowing and irrefutably beautiful, this is classic post-rock achieved to it’s full potential. – Dan Hillier

Cryptosis – Reign of Infinite

The tracks coming from the metal bands this week are all looking to inject some much needed frenetic energy into the dreary month of January and Cryptosis are no different with their melodic speed metal jaunt ‘Reign of Infinite’. The vocals sound like some sort of otherworldly scream not capable of being made by a human (as they should be) but it’s the guitars that shine through on the track, cutting a path through dense Finnish forest, tramping through the snow, breaking away dead limbs whilst trying to escape the abominable snowman. Tracks like this are a great way to start out the year, their energy and delivery (somewhat ironically) brightening the day with their insidious melody and hoarfrost sensibilities. – Rob Bown

Hinayana – Tempest Horizon

Texan death doomers Hinayana have released a melodic wonder here with a break neck cutting edge to it that’ll leave anyone wanting more. The silky smooth lead guitar work has much to thank Arch Enemy for, as do the pounding rock solid rhythms that lie all over the track. ‘Infinite Horizon’ is a melodic death metalheads wet dream, twisting and turning through darkened ice capped peaks and festooned with a right earworm of a chorus. It seems the production although not bad before has picked up even more as well to produce a delightfully well rounded 3 minute romp that’ll have toes tapping and heads banging everywhere. – Rob Bown

Waterlines – Set the Pace

A chemical rush in the same vein of acts like Northlane, Wage War and Electric Callboy, ‘Set The Pace’ is an immediate shot of crunchy metalcore that hits the bloodstream in seconds. Taken from the band’s freshly released debut EP WDGAF Vol 1, as you imagine from a record of that title, ‘Set The Pace’ is a delightfully obnoxious and chaotic flurry of noise that’s set to activate some synapses and neurons alike for those metalcore minded. But what sets this apart from their countless peers in the scene is just how spirited and inspired it sounds. This may be released within a debut EP, but ‘Set The Pace’ sounds like something courtesy of a band years into their career. Crucial listening for fans of the bands aforementioned in the opening sentence. – Dan Hillier

All these tracks and more can be found in our Essential Playlist.

Follow it here.